Ruth La Ferla references True Blood and Let The Right One In and writes:

What began with the Twilight Saga, the luridly romantic young-adult series by Stephenie Meyer, followed by Twilight, the movie, has become a pandemic of unholy proportions.

For Spike's sake: Vampire lust did not "begin" with Twilight. While La Ferla acknowledges the 1983 film The Hunger, the Sookie Stackhouse books penned by Charlaine Harris, and upcoming "supernatural action film" Blood: The Last Vampire (which looks awesome) — her underlying question is: Why? Why the pop culture obsession with vampires? La Ferla gets this:

The vampire's attraction is "all about the titillation of imagining the monsters we could be if we just let ourselves go," suggested Rick Owens, a fashion bellwether whose goth-tinged collections sometimes evoke the undead. "We're all fascinated with corruption, the more glamorous the better" and, he added, with the idea of "devouring, consuming, possessing someone we desire."

But in a new interview with True Blood series creator Alan Ball, he says: "Vampires are sex. Vampires basically arose in our time as a metaphor for sex. I mean, vampires are sort of the ultimate Romantic rock star, bad boy or girl fantasy." And: "I can't really talk that much about Twilight because I haven't read any of the books and I didn't see the movie. I personally don't really understand why you would have vampires in a something that is basically about abstinence."

Okay, sure, vampires are about unleashing your inner monster, sex and desire. But most famous vampire stories involve bloodsucking males preying on females. In this chart illustrating the "basics" of being a vampire, there's Bill from True Blood; Edward from Twilight and Angel from Buffy. Bloodsucking is a boy's world. Maybe that's why that the epic clip of Buffy prevailing over Edward Cullen is such refreshing turn of events. Jonathan McIntosh, who created the clip, says:

More than just a showdown between The Slayer and the Sparkly Vampire, it's also a humorous visualization of the metaphorical battle between two opposing visions of gender roles in the 21ist century […] In the end the only reasonable response was to have Buffy stake Edward – not because she didn't find him sexy, not because he was too sensitive or too eager to share his feelings – but simply because he was possessive, manipulative, and stalkery.

Although there are many vampire books written by women, and a few fierce female vamps — Buffy's Drusilla, Underworld's Selene, Let The Right One In's Eli, Queen Of The Damned's Akasha. But none of these women have achieved the fame and notoriety male vampires enjoy. A woman's role in vampire mythology is to get bitten, become enthralled, or both; the undead dudes are the ones with all the power.

A Trend With Teeth [NY Times]
In Vampire World, The Rules Keep Changing [USA Today]
From Dusk Til Dawn: Talking With Alan Ball About "True Blood" Season Two [Televisionary]
What Would Buffy Do? Notes On Dusting Edward Cullen [Women In Media & News]

Earlier: Buffy Shuts Down Edward Cullen In The Best Clip Ever

Why, it's 90210's Kelly Taylor. "Born to a cokehead mom and an absentee dad, Kelly, in no particular order, lost her virginity via date rape, ODed on diet pills, was badly burned in a house fire, joined a cult, dated a cokehead, became an addict, was single-white-femaled, miscarried, got shot by carjackers, developed amnesia, was sexually harassed by a member of the medical profession, was attacked and raped in an alley, eventually killed her rapist in revenge, and lived through dozens of other comparatively piddling traumas." And Kel's reaction to these unfortunate incidents was always meek acceptance.

An exception to the rule is Buffy, but as we all know, Buffy existed in a supernatural universe. The ladies of Lost are similarly kick ass, but again: they live in a fractured world, not one that is striving for realism. Are there female characters out there taking names who exist in semi-realistic settings? Glenn Close on Damages comes to mind; so does Mariska Hartigay on Law and Order SVU. What other characters are avoiding victimhood successfully (and no, hookers and doormats don't count).

Heigl Says No Thanks, Emmy, It's Undeserved [AP]
The Beautiful And The Damned: From Kelly Taylor To Meredith Grey, The Long-suffering Ladies Of Prime-time TV [Radar]

[New York, June 10. Image via Splash.]

Explains Tarabay: "Buffy took a deep breath before going into what was often the fight of her life. Every time I got into our bullet proof car to drive around Baghdad, so did I. And on days I was stuck in the bureau, I'd sit in my room and put on another DVD."

Those not familiar with Buffy only need to know that she kicked ass. Yes, there were vampires and demons, yes there was a musical episode. But. She was a teenage girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders (haven't we all felt like that?), whose emotions and dilemmas were instantly recognizable. High school can be hell; Buffy's happened to be on the Hellmouth. A professor at Ursinus College outside of Philadelphia is a leader in Buffy studies. The third academic conference dedicated to Buffy is planned in June at Henderson State University in Arkansas.

But for Tarabay, Buffy's situation was both mirror and inspiration. "Buffy's creator, Joss Whedon, gave his blond destroyer a quick wit, friends who kept up with her, and a wardrobe I would die for," she says. "Especially in Baghdad, where I couldn't wear anything cute." Tarabay continues:

"What made Buffy my superhero was that she wasn't perfect. Like me, she made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot of hard lessons. Watching her deal with her own private war zone helped me deal with mine."

Here's the thing. Buffy ended in 2003. Where's the new kick-ass girl for us to look up to? Not on The Hills, that's for sure. Maybe Joss Whedon's new show (starring Buffy alum Eliza Dushku) will offer a woman with strength, substance and cute clothes?

Vampire Slayer Buffy Saves Iraq Reporter's Soul [NPR]
Related: Pa. Professor Leads 'Buffy the Vampire' Study [AP]
'Dollhouse': First Look at Joss Whedon's New Series [EW]
Earlier: Where The Hell Are The Strong Women?